
RACING FOR THE FINISH LINE!
THE UNSTOPPABLE RISE OF YOANN RICHOMME
PORTRAITS OF LEADERS (2/3). Who are the current leaders of the Vendée Globe? A handful of days before the finish, we offer you a series of portraits of the three skippers who are most likely to finish on the podium: Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance), Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) and Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil). In this second instalment we look at a first-time Vendée Globe competitor who acts like an old hand: Yoann Richomme.
A key player in the race, battling with Charlie Dalin for victory, the skipper of PAPREC ARKÉA has climbed the ranks thanks to a combination of meticulousness, seriousness and impeccable attention to detail. Above all, Yoann is very demanding of himself and wants to master every element of his success with the certainty that he is capable of reaching the top in all circumstances.
Yoann lights up every time he talks about the race, the weather and the strategy. During the last edition, four years ago his series of ‘L’œil du Vendée’ – The eye of the Vendée – videos his analysis of the maps, the weather and the routings from his living room won great acclaim from knowledgable devotees of open ocean sailing and say a lot about who he is.
We see a character passionate in disciplines from regatta sailing to trans-ocean battles and tactics. Yoann likes to pass on this passion and to make the jargon understandable to everyone.
In the Vendée Globe today there are two skippers in particular who are on ice watch, Antoine Cornic, HUMAN Immobilier in 31st position and in 32nd place Chinese skipper Jingkun Xu, (Singchain Team Haikou). In the south of the South Atlantic there are a group of six who are fighting it out in the heart of a low pressure system, from Tanguy Le Turquais, Lazare, in 21st to Japan’s Kojiro Shiraishi, DMG Mori Global One in 26th. And then off the Brazilian coast there is a group trying to make it into the SE’ly trade winds, from Jérémie Beyou, Charal, 4th to Sam Davies, Initiatives Cœur in 13th.
ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE
After more than 60 days of racing skippers are still pushing their limits. By comparison the leading trio are in the home straight and right now have it relatively easy. Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance, 1st), Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA, 2nd) and Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil, 3rd) appear much luckier. The top two are approaching a ridge of high pressure with lighter winds, 500 miles WSW of the Canaries, but they almost have the scent of home in their nostrils, ticking off the last maritime milestones as they climb north.
“Today, they are getting into in a ridge of high pressure, the wind is slightly less strong (7 to 10 knots rather than 15). As soon as they emerge from it tomorrow, they’ll start to hit stronger and stronger winds again,” explains Basile Rochut, the Vendée Globe weather consultant.
The leading duo are expected to pass south-east of the Azores but there still seems a chance the race could be decided in an anticyclonic bubble which is forming around Brittany which could force them to make several tacks down from Brittany – ironically maybe even taking them back past their real home waters – until the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne. For the moment it appears the finish for Dalin should probably take place on Tuesday afternoon, Yoann Richomme is expected a few hours later. Dalin’s lead has opened very slightly and stands at 180 nautical miles this afternoon.
Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil, 3rd) is also making progress in the trade winds. The low pressure system that will give strong winds to the first two will force him to make a tactical choice: either to pass to the north-west, at the risk of being slowed down a little, or to the south-west and be confronted with stronger winds.
BEYOU ON TOP OF BATTLE OFF BRAZIL
Some 2100 miles further south, it’s still a battle off the Brazilian coast between seven skippers who are equally determined to take the best possible finishing position. Those in the West – closest to the coast now led by Jérémie Beyou (Charal, 4th) and Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE, 5th) seem to have taken a slight advantage. To their East, Paul Meilhat (Biotherm, 8th) and Nicolas Lunven (Holcim-PRB, 9th) are trying to catch back up making multiple tacks upwind.
All are now starting to get out of the area where the unsettled, unpredictable storms were the most intense, only Justine Mettraux (Teamwork – TeamSnef, 10th) could still be affected.
Behind this group, the situation is similar for Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence, 11th), Sam Davies (Initiative Cœur, 13th) and Benjamin Dutreux (Guyot Environnement – Water Family, 12th). Crémer and Davies, further west, should benefit from a low pressure system that will allow them to retain the best wind. Vendée sailor Dutreux is out east looking for the wind shift which will take him north.